Sunday, October 23, 2016

I stumbled upon a very beautiful psychological theory/psychosocial intervention approach diagram and page on Wikipedia the other day. It's called Cognitive behavioral therapy, a psychosocial intervention that is the most widely used evidence-based practice for treating mental disorders.

But I think we can all glean from this diagram, whether mentally ill or not. (Who is not mentally ill these days anyways)

It's called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

I found it helpful to see a diagram that mapped out why I did the things I did, and how my thoughts, feelings, and actions could be all related.

I struggle a lot with self-image, and I believed such grim thoughts were mostly contained to myself. After seeing this diagram, I realized that it really could spill over (really, it does) and affect other areas of my life. How I view myself affects how I view others, and my future. (And how I view my future affects myself and others, and same goes for how I view others.)

It's a simple concept, and pretty obvious when you think about it, but strangely satisfying to discover a diagram that maps out how you feel, think, and behave.

Now the question is, how should you view yourself, others, and your future? How are core beliefs formed and sustained? Mmmm.... Deep questions....

What do you think about this diagram? Astounding? Psychobabble?

Let me know your thoughts!

- Jinwoo

If you are curious about CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) here is a link to the Wikipedia Page:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_behavioral_therapyAlso another cool page related to CBT called Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT):https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpersonal_psychotherapyIPT is based on the principle that relationships and life events impact mood and that the reverse (mood impacts relationships and life events) is also true.Note: It's not a perfect psychological model/diagram, and there's a lot of criticism about it, but it's a little nugget I've found helpful to recognize.

Friday, October 14, 2016

"Let me know if it's too strong or weak," he said as he massaged my back.
"I want you to destroy me." I grunted matter-of-factly. Only after the words escaped my mouth did the heavy sexual connotation fully process into my (innocent?) brain.
I started cracking up uncontrollably and the massage guy (Larry) started laughing so hard too. We both had tears streaming down our faces, and we could not keep it together for a couple minutes...

Just two dudes... One dude massaging another dude... The other dude accidentally making sexual jokes...

My first massage. I laughed so hard.

Part II: Art Exhibit

I clumsily made my way into the exhibit, dumbfounded and feeling stupid for having gone in and not understanding any of the items. Apparently the concept was: trying to make sense of potholes, the artist trying to fill in the potholes from the streets of Detroit with assorted things.
What kind of pothole(s?) do I have in my life? What do I fill in those potholes with?
Potholes are inevitable, but why do they remain and grow bigger and bigger every year? (That's not a real question, I'm going to answer it for you in the next sentence.) Neglect and apathy to take action, I suppose.

As these questions ran through my mind, I realized, abstract art can make space for self-reflection.

What are some potholes in your life? What do you fill them with?

Artsy Potholes.

Part III: Facebook

A little while ago, Facebook added reaction emojis as a response to people complaining that the responses to posts were too limited. Well, I think the addition of these emojis made facebook a lot worse. Instead of typing, "Hahahahaha," people just click the "Haha" emoji. Isn't that sad? I think it is. It makes the communication experience much less interactive.